Archive for the ‘Packard plant’ tag

* Elwood Engel’s Lincoln Mk IX concept, intended to replace the 1961 Lincoln Continental, never made it beyond the mockup stage, but it ended up inspiring many a car throughout the decade, both at Ford and at Chrysler, thanks to Elwood Engel’s hasty departure from the former, or at least so goes Andy Prieboy’s theory, presented this week over at Motorland.

* A group of four Kentuckians have been charged with fraud and conspiracy after three garage fires in 2009 and 2010 destroyed eight different collector cars the group owned and claimed as restored to collect bigger insurance payouts. (via)

* The above car doesn’t look like a Porsche, doesn’t carry a Porsche badge, but was indeed designed by the sports car company as part of an effort to win a government contract to build cars in China. As Ronan Glon at Ran When Parked wrote, Porsche expected to build up to half a million C88s per year, but then the Chinese government suddenly pulled the plug on the project.

With most disputes over the ownership of the former Packard plant on East Grand Boulevard in Detroit resolved, the new owner of the plant told the Detroit Free Press this week that he intends to begin cleanup soon and eventually restore some of the plant with the help of Albert Kahn Associates, the firm named for the man who designed the plant in 1903.

Though Peruvian developer Fernando Palazuelo paid $405,000 for the 40-acre factory complex – vacated by Packard in 1956 – at a Wayne County foreclosure auction in December, he’s since had to clear a few hurdles to begin work on the deteriorating and vandalized buildings.

Then, earlier this summer, a number of Detroit news sources reported that Palazuelo owed the county more than $92,000 in delinquent taxes. At the time Palazuelo said that he believed his lawyers had taken care of the back taxes, but the Detroit Free Press noted that he only paid the county those back taxes after he resolved the dispute with Cristini.

That leaves just one last hurdle, a dispute over a 4.5-acre parcel within the Packard plant complex that includes half of the much-photographed pedestrian bridge crossing East Grand Boulevard and that was not included in the county foreclosure auction. Palazuelo is reportedly working with the city to resolve that claim.

As for his plans, Palazuelo said that he intends to clear debris starting next month and redevelop some of the plant into mixed commercial, industrial, and residential uses. Specifically, he told the Free Press that he plans to restore the pedestrian bridge, four-story administrative office building, and a nearby courtyard. He has also mentioned the possibility of hosting a Detroit Symphony Orchestra performance in the ruins of the plant as well as securing the return to the plant of a section of concrete wall allegedly stenciled by graffiti artist Banksy. Palazuelo said that the total cost of the renovation could take decades and total $300 million, partially paid through tax credits.

“If the market reacts positive, we will do it in 5-7 years,” Palazuelo said in June. “If the market does not understand our proposal, it will take more than 10 years.”

The factory dates back to Packard’s 1903 move from its birthplace of Warren, Ohio, to Detroit. Designed by Albert Kahn, who became one of America’s foremost industrial architects (his works include Ford’s Rouge plant and GM’s headquarters of 1919), the East Grand Avenue plant was one of this country’s earliest examples of reinforced concrete construction, and was once admired as one of the most advanced factories in the world. Packard left East Grand for South Bend in 1956, after consolidating its operations with Studebaker. The factory had a variety of paying tenants over the past several decades, the last of which left in 2010.

UPDATE (7.November 2014): In a community meeting this week, Palazuelo and his company, Arte Express, said that the renovation work on the Packard plant will take between seven and 15 years and cost as much as $500 million.

Nothing comes easy with Detroit’s crumbling Packard plant, and the phrase “free and clear” certainly does not apply, as developer Fernando Palazuelo is quickly finding out, following a claim on the plant from its previous owner, who has demanded that Palazuelo pay another $3.5 million for it.

Meanwhile, the city of Detroit has told Palazuelo, who bought the plant for $405,000 at a foreclosure auction from the county in December, that it still owns a key parcel smack dab in the middle of the Packard plant complex. Dominic Cristini, the former owner of the plant, has laid claim to that parcel as well.

Palazuelo, the Spanish-born Peru-based developer, won the county foreclosure auction on the plant in November and completed payments to the county in December and has since outlined grand plans for a mixed-use development of the property, including residential, commercial, and industrial uses, and even a go-kart track. However, according to reports in the Detroit Free Press, Cristini – whose failure to pay about $1 million in back taxes led to the foreclosure and subsequent auction of the 40-acre complex – now claims that the county botched the foreclosure process by not giving him proper notice.

County spokesmen disputed Cristini’s claims and said they sent out sufficient notice via certified mail and published public notices. Regardless, Cristini reportedly met with Palazuelo to offer to release his claim on the property – and the claims of an unknown number of others also invested in the property – if Palazuelo paid him $3.5 million. “This is typical blackmail,” Palazuelo told the Free Press. “I told… Cristini that Christmas is over.”

The factory dates back to Packard’s 1903 move from its birthplace of Warren, Ohio, to Detroit. Designed by Albert Kahn, who became one of America’s foremost industrial architects (his works include Ford’s Rouge plant and GM’s headquarters of 1919), the East Grand Avenue plant was one of this country’s earliest examples of reinforced concrete construction, and was once admired as one of the most advanced factories in the world. The factory on East Grand Boulevard, once one of the most modern in the world, stopped producing automobiles in the fall of 1954, when production was shifted to the former Briggs body plant on Connor Avenue that Packard had leased from Chrysler. The company left East Grand for South Bend in 1956, after consolidating its operations with Studebaker. The factory had a variety of paying tenants over the past several decades, the last of which left in 2010. Despite the weather and the efforts of vandals, looters, scrappers and arsonists, much of the reinforced-concrete skeleton of the factory building remains standing.

The crumbling remains of the Packard plant in Detroit, which failed to attract the required minimum bid of $1 million at auction last month, could be had for as little as $21,000 at a second auction scheduled for this month.

While the Wayne County treasurer’s office last month had announced a deal with William Hults, a Chicago-area developer, to sell the 110-year-old plant in exchange for the $1 million owed in property taxes, the minimum required bid, that deal fell through when one of Hults’s investors withdrew. As a result, the county will offer the property in a second auction, when the minimum bid falls to $500 per parcel, or $21,500 for the 43 connected parcels that make up the site. Interested bidders have until October 11 to register by visiting Treasurer.WayneCounty.com and following the link to the 2013 auctions; bidding begins on October 8, and lots will close between October 21 and 25.

If the property still remains unsold after the October auction, it will be given to the city of Detroit – unless Detroit objects, in which case it will become the property of Wayne County. According to Deputy Treasurer David Szymanski, the county would probably then donate the property to a city, county, or state land bank, which would then try to find a buyer.

The factory on East Grand Boulevard, once one of the most modern in the world, stopped producing automobiles in the fall of 1954, when production was shifted to the former Briggs body plant on Connor Avenue that Packard had leased from Chrysler. The company left East Grand for South Bend in 1956, after consolidating its operations with Studebaker. The factory had a variety of paying tenants over the past several decades, the last of which left in 2010. Despite the weather and the efforts of vandals, looters, scrappers and arsonists, much of the reinforced-concrete skeleton of the factory building remains standing.

UPDATE (1.November 2013): Quite a bit took place this week. The auction reportedly drew three bidders, with a top bid of $6.038 million, but the top bid fell through, as did the second bid – from Hults – of $2.003 million. The third bid fell to Peruvian Fernando Palazuelo, who bid just under Hults, at $2.002 million.

UPDATE (13.December 2013): Fernando Palazuelo has completed payments for the abandoned plant and will shortly take possession of it, the Detroit Free Press reported. He plans a mixed-use development of the property, including residential, commercial, and industrial uses, and also has mentioned plans for a go-kart track. He should be able to take possession of the property early next year.

A Chicago-area developer has agreed to buy the former Packard manufacturing plant in Detroit for nearly $1 million in unpaid taxes, and has been given permission to begin securing the 40-acre property, according to the Wayne County Treasurer’s office.

Developer Bill Hults had until the end of the day Thursday, September 12, to place the $1 million payment in escrow, according to Deputy Treasurer David Szymanski. “I’m cautiously optimistic” that the deal with go forward without a hitch, Szymanski said. He said Hults intends to create a commercial, residential and entertainment complex from the vacant and deteriorating factory buildings, which the county seized for non-payment of taxes. “It’s going to be an oasis of urban living – a gated community of some sort,” Szymanski said.

The deal with Hults comes on the eve of an auction of the property. Under the county’s rules, the property was offered this month with an opening bid of the amount of taxes owed. If no bid had been made, the property would have gone up for auction again in October, with the minimum bid set at just $500 for each of the 42 parcels, or $21,000.

Hults told the Detroit News that he and a group of investors want to save as many of the 47 remaining buildings as possible. Despite the buildings’ deteriorated condition, he and others are optimistic that the reinforced concrete skeletons of the structures might still be sound. “Packard is a global brand and has a global identity. It’s kind of like buying Coca-Cola,” Hults told the Detroit News. “I couldn’t spend enough money to have that built-in identity. It would take a couple of lifetimes to build that. … If Packard wasn’t there or was bulldozed, we wouldn’t be doing this.”

Hults has hired Albert Kahn Associates, the legendary industrial architectural firm that built the factory in 1903, for the property’s transformation. The factory at East Grand Avenue was one of this country’s earliest examples of reinforced concrete construction, and was once considered one of the world’s most advanced factories. Production at East Grand ended in 1954, when Packard acquired the Connor Avenue plant from Briggs. The East Grand plant has since had a variety of uses, but has been in steady decline for decades.

Update (September 17): As of today, the county has not received the funds from Hults, and the auction is proceeding. “We received a communication from Bill Hults on the Packard Plant acquisition indicating he had a major investor withdraw last week,” David Szymanski said. ”He indicates he has been working with a back up group of investors who are seeking to verify that they have the funds necessary to proceed. As of this time we have no verification of funds and the property continues to be available through the auction.” If no bidder offers at least the $1 million owed in taxes before the current auction ends on September 26, the property will again be offered in October, with a minimum bid of $21,000.

The former Packard plant on Detroit’s East Grand Boulevard is headed to auction. Wayne County has foreclosed on the parcels that make up the remains of the vacant 3.5-million-square-foot complex, and will offer them as a single package at auction in September, hoping to find a buyer that will either demolish or redevelop the former factory.

“Generally, it’s sitting as an eyesore; people have been injured in there,” said David Szymanski, chief deputy treasurer for the county. “Our fervent hope is somebody will take an interest in the property, somebody with deep pockets, and find some productive use. The plant consists of 43 properties. We’ve linked them all for purposes of sale, because if somebody buys one property and not the rest, it’ll never get developed…. We want it all to go as one package.”

Szymanski explained that, with the foreclosure, the various levels of government – the state of Michigan, the city of Detroit and Wayne County – are given the opportunity to buy the parcels for the $975,000 owed in back taxes. If all three pass in turn, as Szymanski expects them to, the property will head to auction in September, with a mininum opening bid of $975,000. If that auction fails to provide a buyer, there will be another auction held in October, with the minimum bid set at the cost of auctioning the properties. Szymanski said that figure has been put at $500 per parcel, making the minimum bid $21,500.

If after that the property still goes unsold, it goes to the city of Detroit – unless the city objects, as it may. Then it would pass to Wayne County. The county would likely donate it to a city, state or county land bank, which would try to find a buyer. “Now, I do not anticipate that it will make it to that step,” Szymanski said. “Where along the line it goes, I can’t say. I’ve heard rumblings of people that are interested in it for this purpose or that purpose. We’re waiting for something concrete; I’m not holding my breath.”

Because the county does not want to see the former factory continue in its dilapidated state, it has attached a “reverter clause” to the deeds, requiring the taxes to be kept up-to-date for a minimum of two years, and giving the buyer six months to demolish the buildings or “secure and maintain” them. If the buyer fails to meet those requirements, the county can take the property.

Though the once-proud factory stands in ruins, Szymanski suggests that much of the rugged, reinforced concrete construction is still structurally sound, and that some of the buildings could be renovated and reused. “When they built these, they built them like the pyramids, to last forever, not knowing how strong the material was,” he said. “The framework is strong enough I think that you’ve got no problem. I doubt that it’s something you want to demolish and start from scratch; you probably want to use this infrastructure, and rebuild.”

The factory dates back to Packard’s 1903 move from its birthplace of Warren, Ohio, to Detroit. Designed by Albert Kahn, who became one of America’s foremost industrial architects (his works include Ford’s Rouge plant and GM’s headquarters of 1919), the East Grand Avenue plant was one of this country’s earliest examples of reinforced concrete construction, and was once admired as one of the most advanced factories in the world. The purchase of Studebaker by Packard in 1954 and creation of the Studebaker-Packard Corporation had set the stage for the withdrawal from Detroit to South Bend, and it was the subsequent management contract with Curtiss-Wright that made East Grand expendable. Packard shut down the assembly lines at the plant on June 25, 1956.

While the plant steadily crumbled and suffered from vandalism and fires since then – and its famous facade sold at auction in 2008 for $161,000 – it actually had paying tenants in it until 2010.

We’ve had a spectacular year here at Hemmings Daily, and that’s all thanks to you, our readers, the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic collector car fans on the Internet. As we do every year around this time, we like to take a look back over the past year at the stories you have enjoyed the most, and here they are, based on the number of pageviews each story had.

#10 – Neil Armstrong Corvette heads toward preservation. While the 1967 big-block Corvette coupe once owned by the late astronaut Neil Armstrong made headlines earlier when it came up for sale, it made bigger headlines this fall when the current owner, Joe Crosby, decided that he didn’t want to restore it; rather, he engaged a team led by Eric Gill to preserve it, following Smithsonian preservation guidelines. That effort is now under way, and we hope to update you on this story as the preservation proceeds.

#9 – Reproduction 1940 Ford coupe bodies receive official Ford licensing. When Ford announced this fall that it had licensed steel reproduction 1940 Ford coupe bodies, we got all the details from the folks at Dennis Carpenter, which sells the bodies, and from the guys at Real Deal Steel, the company that assembles the bodies here in the United States.

#8 – Tucker convertible to cross the block in Scottsdale. Perhaps the most controversial car in the collector car hobby, the Tucker convertible has generated countless headlines and arguments since Justin Cole restored it and debuted it to the public three years ago. While it had fallen out of the spotlight for the last couple of years, it resurfaced again this year when Barrett-Jackson announced it will cross the block in Scottsdale next month. Will it bid up to the numbers Cole had previously asked for it? Stay tuned.

#7 – Volkswagen to offer factory restorations of the iconic microbus. Adding to the list of German automakers that offer restorations of its products, Volkswagen announced in the spring that it would make its Hannover restoration shop’s services available to owners of the Type 2 Microbus. We believe more automakers should devote such attention to their heritage.

#6 – Has the end finally come for the Packard plant? Packard’s 110-year-old Detroit factory has been crumbling for decades, providing photo opportunities aplenty for urban explorers, but that may come to an end soon, as David LaChance wrote in March, with both the city and the plant’s current owner exploring options for demolishing the complex and cleaning up the site – a project that could cost as much as $20 million. As of this writing, the plant still stands and the city is still trying to gain possession of the site to begin the clean-up process.

#5 – Flatmobile, the world’s lowest car, sells at auction for $15,000. Admittedly, most auction stories here report on the big-ticket items – cars that sell in the six- and seven-figure ranges. This one’s a little different, not just because it sold for less than what a new Kia costs, but also because it’s the world’s lowest car, as verified by the Guinness Book of World Records, at a mere 19 inches.

#4 – Chevelle, Corvette cloners busted, charged with felonies. While we see clones being passed off as the real thing all the time, it’s not that often we also see the cloners prosecuted for doing so, but that’s exactly what happened this summer when two separate cloners – one trying to sell a 1970 Chevelle SS 396 as an LS6 SS 454 and one who tampered with a 1966 Corvette 427′s VIN – were charged with felonies for their handiwork.

#3 – Once buried alive, 1954 Corvette now heads to auction. Speaking of Corvettes, did you ever hear the story about the guy who sealed off his 1954 Corvette in a grocery store in 1959 and ordered it to remain there until 2000? As it turns out, the story’s real and the Corvette – rescued from the tomb in 1986 – is now headed to auction with Mecum in Kissimmee, still in its original state.

#2 – California considers the return of black license plates. As Terry McGean explained, California’s black license plates were – and are – more than just license tags: They’re a point of pride, as well as an indicator of a car’s time spent in the hospitable California climate. So it was more than a little noteworthy when California’s legislature this year debated allowing the DMV to again issue black plates. Terry followed up his story a month later with news that the legislature appeared ready to approve the plan.

Honorable Mention – We love seeing your comments, and you’ve been very prolific in telling us what you think about the stories we write this year. As happened last year, a story that didn’t break into the top 10 in terms of pageviews nevertheless generated more discussion than any of the above stories: Mark McCourt’s story on the Mercedes-Benz crackdown on illegal 300 SL replica bodies. Is Mercedes-Benz doing the right thing? Is it overreacting? Plenty of readers came down on both sides of the discussion.

Thanks to all of our readers for a great year, and stay tuned for more first-class coverage of the collector car hobby in 2013. And to make sure you don’t miss any of that coverage, sign up for the free Hemmings Daily newsletter if you haven’t done so already.